Rampage Can Rest Easy — Nab Decent AHL Schedule

There had to be moments of trepidation when the Rampage hockey operations triumvirate of general manager, Brad Treliving, head coach Greg Ireland and assistant coach, Ray Edwards opened their emails this morning and took a gander at the 2009-10 AHL schedule, which was released today.

To their credit, the Rampage braintrust has never used the sometimes challenging, sometimes ridiculous scheduling practices of hockey’s top minor league as an excuse for on-ice performance, or the lack thereof.

But realistically, when the team has to play five games in six nights in four different cities spread around the nation’s midwest, the lack of rest and recovery does impact on ice performance.

The teams realize Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights are prime real estate for drawing the biggest crowds. Not too many AHL teams pull in more than 3,000 on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, so the games do pile up and result in many teams playing 3 in 3 nights, or 4 in 5 nights. But in the past, we’ve seen the Rampage, and to be fair, their opponents, facing a schedule such as playing here on a Friday night, fly to Chicago and bus to Peoria for a Saturday night contest, followed up by another bus ride back to Chicago for a flight to Cleveland to play Lake Erie at 4 Sunday afternoon.

Tough three days.

West Division teams have had to endure such debilitating slates of nine games in 12 nights, or jamming 16 games into 28 nights. Not sure about you, but just watching nine hockey games in 12 nights would drain yours truly, but to actually play those games on the ice, and in 7 different cities equals a guarenteed stretch of sub-par performances.

Another factor in the past Rampage scheduling nightmares is geography. Being the most westerly of the Western Conference teams and given the milage differences between cities in the conference, usually meant air travel as a matter of course, usually with early morning flights for games that same night.

OK, so you’re thinking, “poor spoiled athletes, gotta fly in that mean ole aeroplane and then play a game on the same day, boo-hoo.” But in their defense, hockey players, when they do play their game, get bumps and bruises in places you don’t even know you have, and they, at least at the minor league level, have to sit with those aches and pains in cramped coach seats on flights of 2 or 3 hours. Maximum stiffage.

The major difference between playing in the Western and Eastern Conferences is the travel. Most teams in the East bus to games within 2 or 3 hours and find themselves sleeping in their own beds after the ride home. For example, when the Bridgeport Sound Tigers travel the two hours to Worcester to meet the Sharks, it would be same as if the Rampage had to play a team in Belton. Take that over a quick trip to Chicago and back, or fly to Chicago for a bus ride elsewhere before returning, and you catch my drift.

So there must have been a giant sense of relief among the hockey operations folks when they saw the AHL schedule maker finally took pity on the Rampage and handed them a schedule that will allow them to catch their breath and not put too much strain on the travel ordeal.

San Antonio’s worst stretch will be 5 games in 7 nights after they return from their rodeo road trip, which will once again stretch 15 games in 10 different cities, but at least there will be back-to-backs this year in Manitoba and Peoria to help that endurance trip.

In that 5 of 7 grouping, four of the games will be here and the one road game will be in Houston.

Otherwise, the Rampage have “only” three 3 in 3 weekends, 2 of them in October, nine 3 in 4 nights, three 4 in 5 game stretches.

San Antonio won’t get close to matching their record 17-game November winless streak from last year since they have only 8 games that month this season. The AHL actually gives them time to really catch their breath, as they play five straight home games over the last 17 days of the month and continues into December for a 20-day stretch of only those five games.

And, the team will fly only once after their rodeo roadie, going to Chicago for two games in March. Otherwise, they bus it to Houston or Austin for their final road games in March and April.

The Austin effect cannot be minimized. Having the Stars only an hour away saves San Antonio six road games in either Peoria, Rockford, Milwaukee or Chicago and allows the league to send the Rampage to Austin for two Tuesday night games, and four of the team’s six April contests will be in Texas.

From an opponent’s viewpoint, case in point is the Milwaukee Admirals. They will play six games in Texas, two against each team, in November. They play back-to-back in Houston Nov. 20/22, here in SA on Nov. 24, out to Austin for 2 games Nov. 25/27 and back to SA on Nov.28. Sure, it’s tough slugging, but at least the Admirals will enjoy South Texas in November, rather than flying around the country’s midsection thanks to the Stars addition.

Ducks In Line?

Some blogs online are reporting the Anaheim Ducks will assign minor leaguers to San Antonio this season. The Ducks are the only NHL team without an AHL affiliation because of the demise of the Iowa Chops, and will have to send their triple-A players somewhere. Last season, the Dallas Stars had the same problem, and ended up sending a few players to Manitoba, which helped the Moose make the Calder Cup finals.

A Rampage official confirmed the blog reports but wasn’t aware of any Anaheim’s players coming to San Antonio.

The plus side of the situation is having some skill players that would usually be playing on the ATT Center’s visitor’s bench. The negative side is the Phoenix organization having to give up ice time from its recruits in order to provide ice-time to an NHL division rival.

The Ducks players have to land somewhere in the AHL — why not save on recruit travel by having them in the closest AHL city to Anaheim?